


Never Again

by rndmcrpydnt



Category: Dr. STONE (Anime), Dr. STONE (Manga)
Genre: Angst, Didn't Really Give This Much Thought, F/M, Heartache, I Tried, Jealousy, Moving On, No proofreading, Not Beta Read, One-Sided Attraction, Short One Shot, Wrote this on a whim, wrote this on impulse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-22
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:54:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 876
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26053036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rndmcrpydnt/pseuds/rndmcrpydnt
Summary: She knew she had to stop. The only person hurting in this situation was her and she just wanted to be okay again.This was the last chance she would give herself.
Relationships: Chrome/Kohaku (Dr. STONE)
Kudos: 8





	Never Again

It was so, so stupid, honestly. To hold even the tiniest bit of resentment towards her own sister because of a man. It was utterly pathetic and Kohaku would feel every fibre of her being shiver in disgust when envy would ghost its repulsive fingers over her heart.

She despised it more than anything.

She was weak.

She loathed the way she would silently grit her teeth every time Chrome would ask her about Ruri. They way her jaw clenched when she would see him from his shed, gazing at the island where her sister’s hut stood. 

She didn’t even know when it started. Chrome was never a close friend of hers as kids since he was always around Ruri. Following her around like a lost puppy, always trailing behind her like a shadow. They’d always be in the fields. Playing together, weaving flower crowns together, collecting fruit together. 

Then Ruri fell ill.

Chrome dedicated himself to sorcery. Leaving the village for days on end travel far in search of resources that might cure her. She admired him for it. She admired the strength and courage he had to look for ways to save her sister even when the whole village started turning him away because they feared the magic that he understood that they didn’t.

“Look after him,” Ruri asked her once after a fit of coughs that rattled her tiny body. “Please.”

Then came the day her father ordered that The Hundred Tales would be passed down to her to be the next priestess in case Ruri passed earlier than expected. She shot down the idea without any hesitation. Her sister wouldn’t die. Chrome wouldn’t let that happen.

“I’ll be rambunctious,” she promised to herself. “I’ll be a nuisance that will be far too unfit to be the village priestess.”

“What do you like about my sister anyway?” She remembers asking him once. She didn’t know when or how, but she had already fallen in love with him at the time. The admiration she felt towards him turned into a deeper adoration that made her heart flutter when she kept her promise to her sister and became friends with Chrome. 

“She’s kind and gentle,” he answered. “She always moves with so much grace and elegance it’s enchanting.”

Kohaku bit her lip. She was so much more graceful than her sister ever was before the oath she made with herself to ensure her father wouldn’t leave his eldest daughter to die so easily because she no longer had an important role in the village. Why didn’t he see her before he saw Ruri? 

“Chrome,” she called out his name after thinking back on her relationship with her sister and her condition after his stubborn refusal to let Senku collect the deadly Sulfuric acid on his own. “You and I are alike. Everyone would be extremely happy if Ruri married a man like you.” Of course she’d be happy if her sister married a man as magnificent as Chrome. Of course she’d be happy if Chrome married the love of his life. She’d be happy, but she wouldn’t just be happy.

“But the heavens didn’t bless you with the ability to fight.” No, he was gifted with the intelligence that made him the amazing man that he was. He wasn’t blessed with what he needed to save Ruri and have her all to himself. He wasn’t strong enough to save her from marriage, but he was smart enough to save her life. “God is cruel, isn’t He?”

He is.

God is wicked for showing Kohaku someone she would never be able to call  _ hers. _

“If all goes according to plan,” she continued. “Ruri will be marrying Kinro or Ginro.” 

The best choice would be Kinro. Strong, handsome, responsible, and reliable Kinro. He was a great man himself, he’d be an amazing village chief. Maybe Ruri would learn to love him. Maybe Chrome would lose his feelings for her sister and care for her as a close friend instead.

Maybe, maybe he’d finally look her way.

“If it’s any consolation, why don’t you take me as your wife instead?” she grinned down at him, taking in the way his lips curled into a playful smirk and how the starlight reflected in his eyes as he looked at her.

She knew she had to stop. The only person hurting in this situation was her and she just wanted to be okay again.

This was the last chance she would give herself.

“You’re nothing alike. Ruri’s ladylike, you’re a gorilla,” he teased. 

“See?” he laughed, rubbing his head to soothe the pain from the rain of kicks she bestowed upon him. “A gorilla.”

That laugh, that smile, that gaze. Even if he just turned her down in one of the most hurtful ways possible, that joy was all because of her. For the last time, he was hers for a moment.

“What was that about anyway? Do you have a crush on me or something?” Kohaku turned away from his warm brown eyes, choosing to look up to the starry night sky that dulled in comparison to him.

“Not in the slightest.”

He chuckled, “I didn’t think so. So don’t say stuff like that.”

She wouldn’t anymore. 

Never again.


End file.
